Bruce Johnson, WCTC journalist and former Rutgers announcer, laid off

Bruce Johnson, 60, was laid off from WCTC on Friday. Courtesy Bruce Johnson

Bruce Johnson, a longtime radio journalist in Central New Jersey and a former Rutgers sports announcer, has been laid off from his job as news and sports director at WCTC.

Johnson was let go for budgetary reasons, his bosses told him after he finished his final newscast at noon Friday.

"I love radio. It's been my life," said Johnson, a 34-year veteran at WCTC. "I want to be able to keep on doing it. If not, I want to keep on working, so I don't want people to think I'm going to be fading away into the sunset."

No news organization, including this one, is immune from layoffs. But local radio news has been particularly hard-hit, as a result of changing media habits and an economic downturn that cut retail advertisers' marketing budgets. WCTC, the radio station that dubs itself "the voice of Central Jersey," now employs just one full-time news staffer, down from six in 2002 and nine in the 1970s and 80s, Johnson said.

"It's just been an erosion of manpower based on budget cutting," Johnson said.

"How can they be a local station if they can't cover local news?" Ellery said. "In my humble opinion, (Johnson) was the last vestige of professionalism at that once-proud station."

WCTC has been slow to adapt to digital technologies, Ellery said. It also hasn't done a great job marketing its talent. Ellery recalls that about five years ago, after a 10-year hiatus from the station, he was driving a car marked with WCTC decals. A man walking by asked Ellery, "Is Jack Ellery still alive?"

"It was like I sneaked back into town," Ellery said.

In an emailed statement, a spokeswoman for parent company Greater Media said: "We are very grateful for the many contributions Bruce has made over the years at the station."

Based in Somerset, WCTC broadcasts throughout Central New Jersey on AM 1450. Its six affiliated stations include Magic 98.3 FM.

Ellery has known Johnson for 30 years. As a sports announcer, Johnson can be compared with the likes of Marv Albert and Joe Buck, Ellery said.

"He painted a picture with his words," Ellery said. "He has a remarkable memory – he forgets nothing."

Ellery recalls that during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Johnson slept in the floor of the station, "so he could be close to a microphone, to tell people what was going on. That was a pretty noble thing to do."

Johnson, a New Jersey native, started at a Cleveland radio station almost 40 years ago. In 1980, he came to WCTC. For 23 years, he was the voice of Rutgers athletics, serving as the play-by-play announcer for basketball and football. His ouster from that position in 2008 sparked an outcry in the Rutgers community (the New York Post called it a "big-time disgrace").

Now, for the first time in many years, Johnson no longer has to wake up at 4 in the morning to report for work at 5:30. His typical day involved preparing 17 news casts for six radio stations, and producing news for the station's website. (Johnson's son, Brent Johnson, is a statehouse reporter for The Star-Ledger, which is affiliated with NJ.com.)

In laying off Johnson on Friday, WCTC followed traditional radio protocol: It informed him after his last broadcast, and didn't have him back on air again, a defense against Howard Beale-esque rants.

But given the opportunity for a sendoff, Johnson had this to say to his admirers: "In all sincerity, I've loved serving you for 34 years, whether it be local news, whether it be the Durham Woods explosion in Edison 20 years ago, whether it be Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, whatever 20 inch snowstorm we had, election nights. All those times where people come to the radio and tune in to find out what's going on in their local community, I thank all those people, and it was my pleasure to serve them."